Opera Memphis Announces 2019-20 Handorf Company Artists:
tahanee aluwihare & Jake Stamatis
After an amazing 2018-19 Season with Handorf Company Artists Stephanie Doche and Philip Himebook, Opera Memphis welcomes 2019-20 Handorf Company Artists: Mezzo-soprano Tahanee Aluwihare and Baritone Jake Stamatis to Memphis. Learn more about these emerging singers below.
Tahanee Aluwihare
A native of Sri Lanka, Tahanee Aluwihare (mezzo-soprano) made her debut with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka at the age of 17 and has since performed in Asia, Europe and North America. She made her operatic debut as Lola in Mascagni’s Cavelleria Rusticana in Germany with Opera Classica Europa.
In the 2017-2018 season, she sang Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo in Crete with Lidal North, and Beppe in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz as an alumna artist with the Longy School of music of Bard College. Venturing outside of the traditional operatic canon, she sang the role of Sinang in the Tagalog language production of Felipe de Leon’s Le Opera Noli Me Tangere with Opera Brittenica, as part of a national revival of the work. Ms. Aluwihare has also sung the roles of Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and La Badessa and La Maestra della Novizie in Suor Angelica, while covering La Zia Principessa, in a double-bill of Puccini’s works in Germany with the Berlin Opera Academy. In the summer of 2017, she covered the title role in Carmen with Opera Noord-Holland-Noord. In the same season, she premiered the roles of the Monkey Queen and Lord of the Tigers in Houston Grand Opera’s (HGOco) touring Spring 2018 production of the new work Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers by Kamala Sankaram.
She was a young artist with Opera Idaho for the 2018-2019 season, where she covered the role of Donna Elvira in Fall 2018, and Amneris in the company’s Spring 2019 production of Aida. Later that season, she made her debut as Carmen in City Lyric Opera’s production of Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen in New York City.
Ms. Aluwihare received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College with concentrations in Music and Anthropology, and her M.M. in Vocal Performance from the Longy School of Music of Bard College under the tutelage of Carol Mastrodomenico.
Jake Stamatis
Jake Stamatis (baritone), born in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, has performed a variety of roles on the operatic stage. His repertoire includes Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Schaunard in Puccini's La Boheme, Figaro in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Frosch in Strauss's Die Fledermaus, Ko-Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, and the Bass-baritone in Glass's Hydrogen Jukebox.
Jake has been a fellow at Music Academy of the West, a resident artist with Tri-Cities Opera, a guest artist with Opera Ithaca, a professional fellow with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, a fellow with the CoOPERAtive Program, as well a participant in Bel Cantanti Opera’s Summer Festival, where he also served as staff choreographer.
Jake received his Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance at Susquehanna University, and his Masters Degree in Opera at Binghamton University.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Opera Memphis Handorf Company Artist Program, and be sure to follow these two on Facebook and Instagram as their opera journeys in Memphis begin!